Romance scam costs Ontario senior $140K

WATCH ABOVE: A woman who lives west of Toronto has lost about $140,000 in a romance scam. Thieves targeting the lonely made $17 million in 2017, making it one the most lucrative scams in the country. Sean O'Shea reports.

Alan described a business trip he took to India. Margaret said he then called for money, claiming he had been arrested and needed money to bribe officials to get out. She said she paid US$12,000 at his request.

Later, Alan asked for money again. In all, Margaret said she sent him about $140,000, believing he would return the money. He did not.

At the time she was making large withdrawals, her financial adviser warned against releasing the money — and so did her bank.

“My bank manager said, ‘This is a scam, you don’t want to do this,’” said Margaret, a youthful senior who keeps fit by riding a bicycle, swimming two times a week, and using an exercise trampoline.

As a result of the scam, Margaret said she had to sell her car and will be moving from her rental condominium at the end of January to save money.

“It really affected me at this point in my life. I worked so hard and it was taken away so quickly,” she said in an interview, adding her relationship with her daughters and grandchildren had been hurt too.

She said she wanted to speak out about her experience to warn others about the pitfalls of online dating. She said she learned an expensive lesson that you should never send away sums of money to a stranger, like she did.